PMDG’s Robert Randazzo has, after an involuntary sickness break, shared new information about the development of the team’s aeroplanes, including the 777 and 737 for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
Updates to 777
As Sim Update 3 has been released, some changes were made to the level of detail loading in the simulator, which has broken some parts of the PMDG’s aircraft. The team is currently working on fixing these issues in their Boeing 777 series. This is going to mean that older 777 planes will need to be updated primarily, essentially meaning that there are going to be some disproportions in version numbering within the aircraft series.
Speaking of updates via the Microsoft Flight Simulator’s Marketplace, the PMDG team has suffered a minor setback, and it is uncertain how quickly these updates will be pushed. This issue is especially persistent in the 2024 version of the Marketplace, as there is a texture corruption issue happening while encrypting the aircraft’s files within the Marketplace. Robert mentions that new updates should be pushed either on Monday or Tuesday next week.
The corruption issue also influences the release of the 777-200LR to the Marketplace, and the aircraft should be pushed into the Marketplace intake this weekend.
The PMDG team is also working on a sound update for the entire 777 series. The initial release should happen within the 777-300ER, 777-200LR and 777F environments, with the -200ER version following later. Robert mentions that the sound team has added a lot of new features and layers to the soundpack, and it has been balanced with the help of real-world 777 pilots. These new sounds should influence the cockpit, the cabin, and the engines, too.
Native Conversion of the 737 to MSFS 2024
Lastly, Robert has spoken about the native conversion of their most popular aircraft series, the 737. These planes should’ve been pushed to the testing team this Thursday, as mentioned in the post. However, there was no confirmation of this happening just yet. PMDG aims to engage in a quick and robust testing program of this aircraft series.
This native conversion is not going to just include the 737 series as is. The team aims to add new features to bring the aircraft up to par with the 777 series. This is especially going to influence flight deck animations, as with this new version of the 737, you will be able to open the windows in the cockpit, as well as the flight deck door.
Lastly, Robert mentioned that the initial release of this conversion is going to happen for the 737-800, as that is the most popular variant of the series. Unfortunately, no timeline was given for when we can expect this aircraft to be ported over to the new, now almost 1-year-old, simulator.
You can also read more about PMDG and their work in one of our previous articles here.
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